


Sky of Stars

by closedcartridge



Category: The Haunting of Hill House (TV 2018)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:54:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23248075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/closedcartridge/pseuds/closedcartridge
Summary: At eight years old, space is kind of Nell's thing. She has her cup full of stars, and when she finds a pack of glow in the dark stars at the shops she's determined to cover her and Luke's walls with them.Short but sweet, this is mostly just a tiny drabble about siblings bonding and exploring a little headcanon I had
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49





	Sky of Stars

“I want one to the left,” Nell said, swaying precariously from her seat on Steve’s shoulders.

With some effort, the two shuffled to the left of the room, coming dangerously close to wobbling over a few times.

“Here?” Steve asked, trying to get a better look at the ceiling above them.

Nell pressed another glow-in-the-dark star against the ceiling; tongue out as she found the perfect position for it, “Perfect.”

Around them, the room was slowly exploding into a galaxy. They had built it together, bit by bit, Steve tottering around with Nell on his shoulders to fill in the ceiling, and Shirley directing Luke and Theo around to decorate the walls. 

In the centre sat a clumsy replica of the Big Dipper. Seven stars for seven members of their family, Luke had insisted. It was the only constellation they knew, but they were determined that it should be at the centre of their galaxy; the seven watching down over them at night. The others didn’t seem to get it, but Nell did. It was a twin thing.

Steve tried to get a better glimpse at their work, but found that tilting his head back too far was likely to make him lose their already fine sense of balance, so instead focused on letting Nell guide him, “How are we coming along?”

“Hm? Almost done. Just a couple more next to it.”

Even at eight years old, Nellie knew exactly what she wanted to do with her room. The second she had seen the stars in the supermarket, they all knew she'd be begging their Aunt Janet until she got them. Stars were her thing. Cup full of stars, head in the clouds, singing out at the moon. And, maybe, she didn’t like the dark when she had nightmares.

She shifted a little, reaching up to fix another star into place, careful and calculated alongside the last two.

“Alright, I’m done!” She announced, finally happy with it, “You can let me down now.”

That part was definitely for the best. Steve got down on his knees beside the bed so that Nell could climb off safely, letting her jump back onto her bedsheets with a giggle.

“What do you think of it?” Shirley asked, edging along the bed opposite and swatting at Luke’s hand from where he was trying to place a star inside a pattern she’d made, “We’re almost done, here - _Luke!_ ”

He had managed to sneak in again and place a star in the centre of her pattern whilst she’d been distracted. Shirley sighed.

Not that Nell noticed. She was busy staring up at the room around her, losing herself in the constellations that had formed around their bedroom, swirling and morphing into real galaxies. Her own personal milky way.

“I _love_ it,” she smiled. It was perfect. Like being swallowed up by the sky.

“If you love it now, wait until you see it in action,” Theo grinned, pointing to the floor in front of her, “Lay down here.”

Nell looked at her, questioning.

“ _Trust me_ ,” she said, tapping the area in front of her with her foot again, “All of you.”

For once in their lives, Theo’s siblings actually listened to her. Something about the grin on her face, so rare and yet so undeniably Theo, got them into action without question. Luke grabbed a pillow from his bed to bring down with him, arranging himself on the floor next to Nell - who shared his pillow with him, no communication needed - waiting for the next instruction from Theo as Steve and Shirley took spots on either side.

“My friend at school has them,” Theo explained, “Now close your eyes.”

That got a little more resistance from the older two, Shirley pulling a face at her, but after a second she complied as Theo went over to draw the curtains, blocking out the outside light as best she could with her jumper.

She picked up an abandoned jacket and pushed that against the crack under the door too, for good measure. Then she flicked off the light.

“Open.”

The effect was immediate. Shirley’s attention to detail had paid off; stars bright and shining against the dark of the room. Running over to join her siblings on the floor, Theo could see the whole room glowing over them.

Nell gasped in awe.

“It’s beautiful,” Luke whispered, transfixed.

He held his hand out towards the ceiling, reaching out as if he could lose himself in them, humming in agreement.

“How’s that for a cup of stars?” Theo asked, sounding proud of herself, “Now you’ll always have them.”

Nell watched the stars dance and move around her; nebulas forming and swirling in her head and reinventing themselves, until the ceiling stretched far, far deeper than it ever could have done. And then, in the middle, sat _her_ constellation. _Ursa Major_ , the book her aunt had got for her called it, but Nell knew it was special. Beside her, Luke was counting the stars in it. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. 

It was perfect. None of them made an attempt to move.

“Can we just watch them for a bit?”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello yes this is tiny I'm still super busy but I hope people enjoy this anyway because I had a headcanon and I needed to get it off my chest.
> 
> I'd like to think Nell loves to look up at the stars, and it means she's not totally in the dark whilst she's having her nightmares, too.


End file.
